{"id":136,"date":"2016-08-01T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.shortstorydayafrica.org\/?p=136"},"modified":"2016-08-01T04:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-01T04:00:00","slug":"a-quick-qa-with-lester-san-writerprompt-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/?p=136","title":{"rendered":"‘I was embarrassed about writing when I started out…’ A Quick Q&A with Lester San #WriterPrompt Winner."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

No one mocks a task, come noon.
At first they labelled him a kook, but with time Our Dad has come to be loved, exalted, deified. His tenet that beauty lay in our imperfection resonated.
He was known as The Rotator. His sense of balance was sharp to the point of cutting, his radar alert to proportion. In his civic landscape, we dwell on Level Eight where the earth is red.
The soil is redder at Level Zero.
tat-tar-rat-tat
The soil is redder at Level Zero.
In his civic landscape, we dwell on Level Eight where the earth is red. His sense of balance was sharp to the point of cutting, his radar alert to proportion. He was known as The Rotator.
His tenet that beauty lay in our imperfection resonated. At first they labelled him a kook, but with time Our Dad has come to be loved, exalted, deified.
No one mocks a task, come noon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\n

“Often indecisive, occasionally self-loathing, but always positive,” is how Lester describes himself. “<\/span>I’m in it for the long haul,” is his motto when it comes to writing.<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

How has your writing evolved since we last interviewed you in July 2015?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

SAN: <\/strong>I’m teaching English as a second language and apart from the usual skills I try to develop in my students an awareness of their abilities, their strengths, and their faults. More so than hasty progress I think that awareness will always serve you well.   <\/span><\/p>\n

I like to think that over the past few months, instead of making massive leaps and improving as a writer, I have developed a more acute awareness. For example, I cringe more than before.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why use a pseudonym and why does the pseudonym change?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

SAN:<\/strong> I’ve changed it because my early drafts are always crap. I was embarrassed about writing when I started out and even now few of my friends or family know. But I’m using my real first name.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Lester’s Beside Table<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I always have a book of Chekov’s short stories<\/a> at hand. Found two books I should have read years ago: Giovanni\u2019s Room<\/a> by James Baldwin and The Immoralist<\/a> by Andre Gid<\/span>\u00e9<\/span>.  At the moment, I’m halfway through the demanding prose of Yukio Mishima’s Spring Snow<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\n

Participate in #WriterPrompt by following Short Story Day Africa on Facebook<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Interview by Tiah Beautement a.k.a @ms_tiahmarie<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No one mocks a task, come noon.At first they labelled him a kook, but with time Our Dad has come to be loved, exalted, deified. His tenet that beauty lay in our imperfection resonated.He was known as The Rotator. His sense of balance was sharp to the point of cutting, his radar alert to proportion. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-writerprompt","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}